by Roman aka jar

Miniature Mentor is proud to present the S-65 Stalinez Heavy Tractor with The Weathering Magazine's resident editor and frequent contributor Rick Lawler.
Rick recreates his masterpiece beginning with the preparation and
assembly of the basic kit, the installation of the after-market engine
and scratch building the roof and boom. He covers all the painting,
weathering and final effects in over 6 hours of in-depth instruction.

by Roman aka jar

Hello Figure-Art Artbook supporters!

As you have seen we shipped the books a while ago.
Around
900 parcels left our place a month ago and the campaign came to an end.
Thanks again to everybody who backed our idea and helped us with this
project. We hope you like what you recieved in the end and many thanks
for all your patience.

Still once in a while there are books
returning to us as the post did mess up something with the adresses. We
are on it. If you are one of those people still waiting to recieve their
book please write a mail to jarhead---at---massivevoodoo---dot---com

... and
we find the reason and get your book to you asap. For those whose
shipments return to us: We contact you and clear with you what issue
might have caused the return.
Many thanks again!

Let us know via comment what you think of the books! Link up your reviews - we would love to see those!

by Roman aka jar

Well ...

Didn't write some Kong Fu lately :)

For those who don't know what Kong Fu is: Pretty simple very open thoughts from my mind about my inner situation, which right now is really like a mad house.

As some of you recognized I am painting a big project for the german Games Day this year. I somehow learned in the last years not to expect anything when going to contests and it is the same this time. I just want to do a nice project with all my heart I can do. I am not painting for a demon. I paint for myself and if there might be a trophy for my project I will be happy. If there won't be one I still will be happy with my project. That is what I have learned from the past contest where I have been and during preparation for a contest. If I would think about such things while painting I can't paint. That is what the past showed me. I am a really happy painter walking this path.

So, yes I am painting to finish the project and yes the project will be finished. In the end it is finished when I enter it in Cologne that's the deal I have with myself. Honestly I have to say this project really has grown massive. I once thought you can learn to hate your project while I was spending ~160 hours on my Rhinotaure, but this time it is something totally different. Right now I am at around 280-300 hours and still as many as possible there to come. And now I really see what ups and downs during such a big project mean. I don't hate it all. I love it, but I somehow hate it too, honestly.

Today I took a little walk to the studio and somehow I felt my mind is carrying my body to the place to paint. It feels like the body is already surrendering or just says: Stop it!

Going to the studio everyday without really realizing what I am doing there: Going into a too hot cave, listen to music I know by heart, paint like a madman with too fast drying colours, no time for my lady at home, no time for my friends, no time for my cats, no time for proper email work, no time for proper blog posts and so on ... is this really worth it?

I don't know ... sometimes I am in the studio and one day you paint and paint and paint and late at night when you finish you have the feeling nothing happened in the progress. The other day you sit down for the first two hours and very, very much is happening, but it can't be planned. At least not from me. The picture of my project is evolving on its own, it is alive it seems, it is growing ... and Raffa once said to me: "Every single minute you will put in it, won't be wasted in the end." That is what comes to my mind very often while painting and waiting for the progress to get really visible.

Ups and Downs. Everyday. No idea what will be tomorrow, but I know that Games Day arrives soon, in eleven days we are jumping the car so I got eleven days left for pushing minutes into my project.
I am looking forward to that but I also hate it :D

Ups and downs. Lacks of energy, lacks of motivation sometimes, but always with a brush in hand and painting, while listening to music I know by heart. Boring? Yes, sometimes. Hard? Yes, sometimes. Rewarding? Yes, sometimes.

Today was just a day where I made my thoughts about this all and I came to my conclusion. I will not surrender now. I will bring it to an end. I am not expecting to win something but I want to win against my inner self. Against the demon that says, ough, that is enough now, that is ok, just take a break now, relax one day or so ... I will not listen to him/them. I will not surrender right now. I am a champion and I will fight my inner demons ... sounds like a lot of blabla ... and maybe it is.
Guess so :D

Thanks a lot to Thomas who sent me this video for motivation today. I did not ask him, he just sent it and it really helps to get motivated. Well, see for yourself ...

I will not surrender. I know there is no enemy standing in my way, only my inner demon that wants me weak. I will carry my tired bones to the place to paint the days I have left... and work some colours. Plow! Plow!

Keep on happy painting to everybody on the brush!
Be your own champion!
Kong Fu out! :)

by Roman aka jar

by Peter aka Baphomet

Hey lads,

while Big Kong is working hard in the studio I try to fill the gap with some of my stuff ;-)

It´s time for a "Miniature unpacked". Today I want to give you a little review about a commission I worked on lately. It´s a nice diorama from Kellerkind Miniaturen. It´s situated in some kind of post-apocalytic world and prduces a feeling like in "The Road" and "28 days later".

Producer: Kellerkind MiniaturenSculptor: Martin Hille

The diorama consists of three parts:A old sofa (sofa & four feet), a girl with a cat and the zombie (two heads included).

The sculpt is very detailed and the well cast. There are only tiny mould lines on the miniatures. The big resin block is easy to remove.

Martin asked me to do the promo-paintjob. As I´m a big fan of post-apocalytic movies I wanted the diorama to communicate a nightmarish atmosphere. So I was sure it had to get dark and dirty, but you should be able to recognize some actual fashion.

Sadly I was not able to take much photos of the wip-situation and those I took were mostly with my mobile phone. So sorry if the quality is not the best.

After cleaning and priming I started with the girl:

The zombies were next on the list. I was asked to put them into a classical green hazard suit. Nice idea and the airbrush was a good tool for gettting started and the brush was the weapon of choice for the rest. The suit´s crincles are really nice to work on... lovely sculped :-)

by Roman aka jar

by Roman aka jar

Well ...

the heat is melting me in the studio.
I am suffering but paint on and on and on ... pushing around 16 hours + in one of my Games Day projects. Lucky me the other entry is already done since a while. Right now with my big project I did spent around 220 hours so far and I will push until the day of the contest arrives - I might even paint in the car when we drive to cologne :D

That means I am a lot in the studio these days. I am still not catching up with all my emails and want to excuse myself to everybody who is waiting for answer from my side. Sorry for that.

The last days all look the same for me: starting from early morning with painting, painting until the darkness of night hugs me. I am really happy to have Bene with me most of the time as he is also preparing his figures. Last Friday Peter was visiting us and did bring his cool Predator he started at the last Painting class in Schöppenstett ... it is really going into a cool direction, can't wait for the jungle athmosphere.

Also I am awaiting another cool visitor today, on Monday for a painting session: Martin aka Dre4mit is visiting me in the studio for spending some time together - I hope he brings a towel to make keep him cool!

I still got a lot of things on my 2do list going on. I am preparing the big giveaway of the 1500 Follower celebrations. We told you that we are giving away three painted figures BUT you will get four right now! Soon more news about that!

Also I am preparing some words about our Figure-Art Artbook Campaign. Preparing future classes, etc. As you see beside painting a big project with 120 figures + there is a lot of other work to do and the H-E-A-T just kills my brain :D

it is really mad hot in the studio, so Bene and I are down with the sickness ... ouuwww-aaa-aaa-aa-aa!

the four figures we give away soon in a cabinet shot:

Well, and off to the studio :D

Still the sun is burning for the lion ...

Keep on happy painting everyone and see you in Cologne where I will do a reportage about my big project on how the idea was born and how it became what it will be in the end ... I will do that live with tons of photos in form of a presentation using a beamer. Around 30 Minutes each. Twice that day!

by Roman aka jar

by Peter aka Baphomet

The painting class in Schöppenstedt is over... time to let the memories pass again and to write another Painting Class Review.... and what can I say? Last weekend (19th - 21st of July) was a very very special event. But let my explain...

Schöppenstedt is a small town in Northern Germany (well, what I would call Northern ;) ), and it took Roman and me about 7 1/2 hours from Augsburg to get there... a very long way and after weeks of full-time work it was a not very pleasant thought to drive this long way for both of us. But to have the chance to relax and find some time to paint made this pass quickly. Roman has been there before, two years ago, check the review!

We arrived just in time Friday afternoon and thanks to the already present attendents everything was ready to start the class. Although I joined Roman on some of his classes it´s always interesting to see what he has changed in his concept since the last time. New techniques, new examples... every time there is at least one aspect he has improved. The concept is some kind of living thing...

At this point I want to thank Mike and David, who made this class possible. The location is the youth center in Schöppenstedt and although it was closed for holidays, Mike opened it up for us. David was our god of cooking (I really mean god!) during the weekend... he spend more time in the kitchen then in the classroom and I was overwhelmed by the full service he offered to us: full power breakfast, lunch and dinner... well, after this weekend I feel 2kilos heavier, but happy ;)

Thanks to Timfor taking so many cool photos! Thanks toPK-Pro for supporting the class with their stuff - Check their store, but take care, great stuff there.

As I am into the "Thank you - thing" right now I also want to pay credits to the Sockelmacher.defor sponsoring the class with plinths for every student. Juweela sponsors bricks and
sandbags for the class and guess what, you can also get their stuff at
PK-Pro. Thanks for their help!

And beside the food, it was time to learn and paint.
It´s always a pleasue to see people using Romans advices and creating their (mostly) first display miniatures... these moments of "click" when they understand the principles of light, shades and contrast motivates me every time :)

Very very cool results! But have a look at the pictures and I´m sure you will understand why I enjoyed the class so much.

So thanks again to everybody for this cool weekend :)

I enjoyed it a lot and I´m looking foreward to next time!

Regards,
Peter

PS: By Roman: If you are in need of a break during painting - remember the 7 Minutes rule ;)

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Welcome to the Jungle...

... MASSIVE VOODOO’s jungle, where some apes share their thoughts and ideas around their beloved passion, the hobby of miniature painting and sculpting.

Feel welcome to come and check the jungle for tons of articles, interesting tutorials, creative competitions and the simple joy of happy painting hidden behind every tree. We hope that everyone finds their own banana in here, if not do not hesitate to ask the apes. We are more than happy for you to post in the comments section to help turn this jungle into the lush, overgrown painting corner we hope it will become.